Walk ups are welcome for today's Highland Park Arroyo Time Travel Trip walking tour. We depart Lummis House at 10:30am to discover a rich vein of weird history and happy historic preservation stories--something we all can use right now. esotouric.com/event/arroyo...

When Will City Hall Act to Protect the Vacant, Arson-Threatened Hollywood Center Motel's 1901 Queen Anne Cottage and Surrounding Buildings? Featuring raw footage of the Wilton Place victims' testimony of how City of LA incompetence wrecked their block. esotouric.substack.com/metalshutters

In 2023, Friends of Griffith Park and the Griffith Trust sued to halt destruction of 16 acres of native California chaparral for new LA Zoo event space. friendsofgriffithpark.org/la-zoo-expan... They won--but at enormous cost. Why is the City so stubborn? cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkc...

Bunker Hill historian (and Angels Flight operator) Nathan Marsak debunks the myth that Big Oil and GM killed L.A.'s streetcar. Maybe the real conspiracy is all the misinformation spewed by people who should have known better. bunkerhilllosangeles.com/2025/11/02/n...

Saturday: join us on the Highland Park Arroyo tour, featuring gorgeous landmark houses and the fascinating L.A. characters who built/saved them, plus weird tales of battling neighbors, salvaged signage, real estate hustles, abandoned mansions and more. esotouric.com/event/arroyo...

Flashback: it wasn't long after we started giving tours that concerned City staff reached out for help. Our work fighting Antonio Villaraigosa's LAPL austerity plan helped armor the library against future cuts, and secured a safe space for all who need it. web.archive.org/web/20080919...

In front of Millard Sheets’ landmarked Hollywood Home Savings, Paul Manship's abducted Europa gazes on her modern sisters.

A rare South LA bungalow court with its original built-ins just listed. These cozy early 1920s multi-family properties were built quickly and flipped as investments, and 100 years later they're still such nice places to live. www.loopnet.com/Listing/1462...

Big Hollywood restoration news: here's the Earl Carroll's newly painted facade which replicates the original 1938 color scheme of different shades of green meant to evoke speed when viewed from a moving vehicle. Coming soon: the neon face of Beryl Wallace! esotouric.substack.com/earlcarroll

At 10am, it's a Very Brady Cultural Heritage Commission Hearing, with consideration of the Brady Bunch house production set simulacrum interior remodel, plus King Taco #1 and the brutalist Sunkist Building. All owner nominated and likely to move forward. ens.lacity.org/pln/heritage...

At 10am, it's a Very Brady Cultural Heritage Commission Hearing, with consideration of the Brady Bunch house production set simulacrum interior remodel, plus King Taco #1 and the brutalist Sunkist Building. All owner nominated and likely to move forward. ens.lacity.org/pln/heritage...

A year ago, the cost to the General Services Fund to symbolically illuminate Los Angeles City Hall for one night was $438. It is now $1462. What has changed? cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkc...

Fascinating story from Joel Rosenblatt in the Gazetteer SF about Burlington Hotel owner Simone Shah’s efforts to remodel the Red Vic hotel on Haight Street and some insights into why she sued Lisa Kwon for her reporting in Los Angeles. sf.gazetteer.co/resurrecting...

The most beautiful tire plant in the world is all tarted up like a gift for Los Angeles. Happy Citadel Outlets Decoration Season!

The Yimby movement's pathological hatred of historic preservation has no place in municipal government. How much longer will Jesse Zwick's professional conflicts gum up Santa Monica's works? smdp.com/government-p... smdp.com/opinion/recu...

Saved from demolition! Plans filed to turn Route 66 Eagle Rock landmark Jay Risk Standard Oil Co. Service Station, one of the oldest in the nation (esotouric.com/standard), into a tiny office, with Office of Historic Resources to okay any new signage. planning.lacity.gov/pdiscaseinfo...

SCOOP! Curren Price pre-trial hearing status report: large turnout waits in silence for two hours with no communication from judge Sean D. Coen, he calls counsel into chambers, bailiff tosses everyone out. Price's attorney tells us: we'll be back in the same courtroom on 12/11.

L.A.'s riff on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus obscured.

Empty rent controlled units in Hollywood, vacated by councilmember Curren Price's wife Del Richardson to clear the way for the Crossroads of the World project. Price did not disclose financial interest, voted against landmarking.

A tale of two allegedly corrupt politicians, one museum, one neglected community. Mark Ridley-Thomas (convicted) cast the deciding vote to demolish LACMA. Promised: a South LA satellite. It never broke ground; Curren Price didn't fight for it. His pretrial hearing begins today.

Last call to speak up for San Pedro treasure Walker's Cafe, with a one-click sample email you can personalize. Let the Zoning Administrator know you want new housing AND a landmark cafe, and to apply the win/win Q conditions savewalkerscafe.com/speakup

This is probably the toughest document we've ever published, and we do so recognizing it will contribute to Eaton Fire survivors' trauma. Critical Safety Concerns at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an open letter from independent researcher Shelby Eidson. esotouric.substack.com/jpl

Land use is the canary in the coal mine: exposed by Crane Boulevard's suit about scripted PLUM Committee votes esotouric.substack.com/pre-plum Disappearing GChats! This is why we don't know what elected and appointed officials were doing during the Palisades Fire. www.dailynews.com/2025/10/24/l...

The Social Daunce Irregulars invite you to attend their 37th annual Victorian Grand Ball at the Pasadena Masonic Hall featuring Mora's Social Quadrille Orchestra. Dance class a week before the ball. That's some dress code! victoriandance.org/what-to-wear/

Ernie's Jr. Taco House closed in 2014, but fans have held out hope it might come back in some form... but it is not to be. la.eater.com/2014/4/21/62... Karl Schumacher stopped by, found it gutted. Coming soon: Armla One's weed dispensary mjbizdaily.com/cannabis-gro...

Help! 946 Menlo Ave. (1908) is a lovely Edwardian house zoned as a hotel, whose owner wants to demolish or flip it as a tear down. How about moving her to Altadena instead? www.loopnet.com/Listing/946-...

Hallowe'en is when the veil is thin, and for folks in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, the ghosts of their sweet, destroyed towns are rattling chains worth heeding. If L.A.'s "leaders" won't accept responsibility, then what? www.instagram.com/p/DQkbpv1knMe/ www.instagram.com/p/DQiKzR5D2z...

ISO: Angelenos to step up with funding that's been taken from Hotel Cecil tenants with the SNAP freeze. Please give if you're able. Plus, you're invited to the 3rd Annual Día de los Muertos Ofrenda at a place that's evolved beyond stigma to be a home. achaplainslife.substack.com/p/empty-shel...

Walk ups are welcome for today's deep history stroll through Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights. Hear the grim tale of the zombie councilman, rage at the railroad's neglected mass grave, marvel at mysteries revealed, meet the carnies and so much more. esotouric.com/event/evergr...

Our Kim Cooper shared weird tales of real life Los Angeles mummies on LAist's Morning Edition, lovely Willa Rhodes and dastardly Elmer McCurdy: laist.com/news/la-hist...

A horrifying Hallowe'en tale to chill any book lover's blood: in summer 2023, science fiction and fantasy collector James Strand keeled over in his sweltering kitchen. The scary part came after the flies arrived. downtownbrown.substack.com/p/the-shunne... via @downtownbrown

Hallowe'en offer of 30% on our flagship true crime tour, The Real Black Dahlia (Sat. November 22). Come get lost in the restless '40s, with alienated kids traumatized by war and lousy parenting, seeking someone worth hanging on to. esotouric.com/event/black-...

SCOOP! Conditional Use Permit application filed for alcohol sales at the Arclight Cinemas... and for Welton Becket's 1963 Cinerama Dome! If the City doesn't dawdle, we could have the Dome back in 2026. planning.lacity.gov/pdiscaseinfo...

A little too on the nose. Treat, please.

Featured in Google Arts & Culture's virtual Route 66 Rewind road trip: Chicken Boy, in his natural habitat, the Broadway Theater District. (Which if you ask us is the real end of the Mother Road!) artsandculture.google.com/experiment/r...

After a pause to say a proper goodbye, Cole's French Dip says November 1 is the final day of service. With SNAP benefits frozen due to the shutdown, we wonder if there's some way the historic kitchen can be converted to provide free community meal service. www.colesfrenchdip.com

News flash: courts are closing on Monday should the Dodgers win the World Series, which pushes the Curren Price hearing back to Tuesday, November 4. Corruption watchers get to sleep in. esotouric.substack.com/thepriceisri...

On October 24, we shared a link on our social media channels to an apparently advertorial post on Pasadena Now about a huge senior housing development that claimed to be on a parking lot, but which was clearly the 1965 Googie style Shakers coffee shop by master architects Armet & Davis.

Walker's Cafe, a Chinatown location on the San Pedro bluffs, needs YOUR help! Plus mummified tales and the sneaky way South Pasadena city staff doomed Googie diner Shakers to demolition with no public hearing. Can these landmarks be saved? Yes--speak up! esotouric.substack.com/walkerscafe

Another perfectly good Los Angeles home, doomed to fall for $mall lot $ubdivision. planning.lacity.gov/pdiscaseinfo... Can 1046 Hyperion (and all the fruit trees) be moved to Altadena instead of smashed and sent to the dump? www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angel...

City seeks developers for its neglected property, including 20 years vacant Wilton Ave. Craftsman, formerly foster youth housing, which L.A. monetized as a scuzzy filming location, contributing to blight and fires down the block. therealdeal.com/la/2025/10/2... esotouric.substack.com/p/wilton

As Airbnb front group Save Our Services Coalition misleads, Tenants Together asks Los Angeles City Council why it is slow-walking implementation of reforms it unanimously approved in March. cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2... (From cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkc...

Rev. Dylan Littlefield is looking for an L.A. angel to fund door hangers to remind Hotel Cecil residents about the Wednesday support group on the mezzanine, where L.A.'s first public AA meeting was held. Food donations are also needed for the SNAP freeze. achaplainslife.substack.com/p/facing-nov...

Honored and thrilled to have been part of NOIRCON in Palm Springs this week, seeing old friends, making new ones, celebrating the noir heritage, and presenting awards to some of my heroes: the legendary film producer Bill Horberg; the great and good Richard & Kim of @esotouric.bsky.social .

This morning at Mosk Courthouse: trial delayed for a status conference on the City Attorney's efforts to evict the Hernandez family's generational Olvera Street photo op stall, La Carreta. We stand with the Donkey and hope saner heads--hello, new GM--can yet change course.

RIP to Jim Bonar, a visionary who saw potential in Downtown’s derelict office towers, ran Skid Row Housing Trust before it became a pyramid scheme. His obit asks you to donate to the dissolved org. www.legacy.com/us/obituarie... Honor his good works instead. youtu.be/zUByIdjgLK8?...

We dig neighborhood bookstores and hyper-local reporting, so the new partnership of Chevalier’s Books and the Larchmont Buzz is extra sweet. larchmontbuzz.com/larchmont-vi...

Today's Know Your Downtown LA tour of hotel basements, speakeasy tunnels and the tile fantasia Dutch Chocolate Shop is sold out, sorry. We'll do it again: sign up for our newsletter. We do have space for you to join us at Evergreen Cemetery on 11/1! esotouric.com

Tonight! We're receiving the Anne Friedberg Award for Contributions to Noir and its Preservation right before "Lost Highway" screens at Noircon 2025 in Palm Springs. Honored to share our journey as civic reformers, in the footsteps of Philip Marlowe. noircon2025.eventbrite.com

Preservation pal Mike Frankovich alerts us to an odd piece touting new development on "a parking lot." No address listed, but it's obviously the 1965 Googie style Shakers coffee shop by master architects Armet & Davis! pasadenanow.com/main/a-parki... It's open! shakersrestaurant.net